I know that Sir Arthur C. Clarke wrote a popular science fiction book (having read it) in 1948 entitled 'Against the Fall of Night' that referred to a space elevator.
I'm guessing he wasn't the first person to think of that idea... so I'm curious -- whom was this Dutch scientist? Henrik Lorentz of Lorentz transform fame? Someone else?
Oddly enough, I saw a recent discussion involving some of the brightest minds at NASA and others outside of the agency, not too long ago, concerning this very subject.
The general consensus was that it was likely technically feasible -- either today or in the near future, but that there still remained an healthy amount of logistical issues to resolve. Legal, political, regulatory, financial, safety, security, public relations, advertising, etc... yet to be resolved. (Not to mention technical issues -- design, validation, composition, length, etc.)
Even from a technical standpoint, there are a number of interesting issues to be resolved... but the general feeling was that it was nothing insurmountable if there was sufficient will (and money) to see it through.
Can we expect one any time soon? Not too likely. April 1st rolling around sooner seems like a more plausible and bet-worthy proposition in the near future.
